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A goitre, or goiter, is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. [1] [2] A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly. Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are caused by iodine deficiency. [3] The term is from the Latin gutturia, meaning throat.
Goiter is the general enlargement of the thyroid that can be associated with many thyroid diseases. The main reason this happens is because of increased signaling to the thyroid by way of TSH receptors to try to make it produce more thyroid hormone. [9] This causes increased vascularity and increase in size (hypertrophy) of the gland. [9]
Normal thyroid levels are also seen, and occasionally also hypothyroidism, which may assist in causing goiter (though it is not the cause of the Graves' disease). Hyperthyroidism in Graves' disease is confirmed, as with any other cause of hyperthyroidism, by measuring elevated blood levels of free (unbound) T3 and T4. [citation needed]
Graves' disease is the cause of about 50% to 80% of the cases of hyperthyroidism in the United States. [1] [7] Other causes include multinodular goiter, toxic adenoma, inflammation of the thyroid, eating too much iodine, and too much synthetic thyroid hormone. [1] [2] A less common cause is a pituitary adenoma. [1]
A goiter is a diffuse, often symmetric, swelling of the thyroid gland visible in the anterior neck that may develop. [13] The thyroid gland may become firm, large, and lobulated in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, but changes in the thyroid can also be non-palpable. [14] Enlargement of the thyroid is due to lymphocytic infiltration, and fibrosis. [15]
De Quervain's thyroiditis, also known as subacute granulomatous thyroiditis or giant cell thyroiditis, is a self-limiting inflammatory illness of the thyroid gland. [1] De Quervain thyroiditis is characterized by fever, flu-like symptoms, a painful goiter, and neck pain.